Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann criticised what he called German leader Angela Merkel's "wait-and-see" approach to tackling Europe's economic problems and demanded a more aggressive push to combat unemployment in Europe.
In an interview published in the Kurier paper, the Social Democrat also expressed sympathy for leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whom he will meet in Vienna on Monday, but reiterated Austria's opposition to forgiving Greek state debt.
Faymann was critical of the European Union's approach to fighting unemployment, which he described as too timid "because everything German Chancellor Angela Merkel supports is a bit late".
He said Germany was underestimating the mid-term impact of consumers losing purchasing power and said a raft of measures was needed to tackle Europe's economic problems. These include fighting tax fraud, taxing the wealthy more, and issuing "joint bonds", he said, without specifying who would sell common debt.